SE HABLA ESPANOL?: Finding bilingual teachers for...

SE HABLA ESPANOL?: Finding bilingual teachers for the county’s burgeoning Spanish-speaking student population can be tough (B1). . . . Recruiter Yolanda Benitez carries a stack of business cards wherever she goes, a habit that came in handy during a recent shopping trip to Nordstrom. . . . A woman in the next fitting room turned out to be a newly graduated bilingual teacher. . . . “I ended up offering her a contract, but she decided to move north,” Benitez said. “It was a lesson: Recruiting is more than a day job.”

COLOR OF MONEY: Pyro Spectaculars has contracts to do seven of the eight fireworks shows that will take place across Ventura County today and Tuesday (B1). . . . To attract customers, the Rialto-based company puts on a fireworks spectacular each March at the Los Angeles County Fairplex, said Jean Starr, a company spokeswoman. The $40,000 showcase was complete with colorful explosions and fountains going off on stage while a chorus line sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” . . . Ventura County’s shows, averaging $7,000 each, will be decidedly more sedate, she said.

FAREWELL: About 50 well-wishers turned out to say happy birthday and goodby last week to Terri Grando, the 79-year-old matriarch of the Democratic Club in Thousand Oaks. One friend described her as “the spirit, blood and guts and gore of the Democratic Party in the Conejo.” . . . Grando has been involved in Democratic politics in Ventura County for more than 20 years. She is moving to Las Vegas to be closer to family. “We’re going to miss her,” said friend Dick Messina.

NEXT YEAR ALLIGATORS?: Wolves and wolf-hybrids (a kind of dog-wolf) are hot-ticket pets this year (Life & Style, E1). . . . But when owners find out that they “can only trust them as far as they can see them,” they often are abandoned, said Kathy Jenks, Ventura County’s animal control chief. . . . The people who buy wolves for pets are “the same people who wanted pot-bellied pigs last year. It’s the pet-of-the-year syndrome.”